Herndon, VA--10Pearls, a software application design and development company that helps businesses accelerate through digital, announced today that it acquired Brilliant Experience, a user experience and research firm specializing in customer engagement and cognitive design.

Brilliant Experience brings to 10Pearls a 6-year track record of serving businesses across industries and in all stages of growth. The newly acquired firm's client roster includes PayPal, Cisco, Capital One, Bloomberg and NIH. John Whalen PhD, a thought leader in the field of cognitive science, founded Brilliant Experience in 2011. Brilliant Experience’s revolutionary approach to digital solutions leverages customer research and user experience (UX) to significantly improve product adoption and engagement. Their proprietary method conceives of UX as a multisensory and multidimensional experience across six functional centers of the brain: vision/attention, wayfinding, language, decision-making, emotion and memory. Using psychological principles, Brilliant Experience helps its clients appeal to users on both cognitive and emotional levels.

Combining 10Pearls' reputation for building usable, secure, scalable digital technology with Brilliant Experience's understanding of the relationship between UX and human cognition, the new 10Pearls will empower companies to innovate and redefine their business models.

10Pearls’ acquisition is part of a larger trend of major technology corporations bringing sophisticated customer research and intelligent design services in-house. Facebook's acquisition of Hot Design, Accenture's acquisition of Fjord and Capitol One's acquisition of Adaptive Path are all recent examples of technology companies adding capabilities to increase customer engagement.

“Users expect interfaces to be not only highly usable and intuitive, but also reflect a high degree of cognition and emotional connection. Chief Digital Officers (CDO) across industries recognize this and are looking for solutions that help them stay ahead of their users’ needs," said Imran Aftab, co-founder and CEO of 10Pearls. "Together, 10Pearls and Brilliant Experience are partnering directly with CDOs to confront this challenge. We will offer businesses user insights and development capabilities they might expect from large industry players, but with the added benefit of working with a more nimble team."

10Pearls recently created digital technology solutions for Hughes Network, Discovery Education and MedStar Health, and was named supplier of the year by AARP for the digital solutions it created for family caregivers. The newly expanded 10Pearls team will continue to serve large enterprises, emerging companies, and small- and medium-sized businesses.

"We are so excited to be part of 10Pearls,” said Whalen, who will now serve as 10Pearls' Chief Experience Officer. “Together, we can help our clients research and identify market opportunities and build products and solutions precisely tailored to the need. Our business model makes our products and services financially viable for businesses of all sizes and in all stages of growth.”

"We're excited to be bringing Brilliant Experience’s talented, creative team aboard,” said Aftab. “And we look forward to continuing to deliver superior technology solutions based on deeper, more meaningful customer insights."